Inside track: Do what you have to do, says David Moore

Whether that’s rising prices, cutting shifts or maybe just a little shopping, do what you have to do says David Moore

They say inflation is currently at 9%. I struggle to think this to be true. My kitchen portering budget is 47% over where it should be; my utilities year-on-year almost 200% up. It’s totally bonkers – there’s no way inflation is only running at 9%.

Price rises are the order of the day. I have to say that we did rise prices and the Great British public have not complained or deserted us – we are as busy as ever. So, if you are teetering on the edge of a price rise, my advice to you is do it and charge what you have to charge.

And there’s more news: we are heading towards a recession. But what better way to stave off a recession than to encourage growth. The last two decades have seen constant and considerable growth in hospitality. In fact, hospitality was one of the main driving factors behind the country’s recovery from the financial crisis of the late noughties.

 

“I used to say the business is ‘struggling but thriving’; now it’s ‘struggling to survive’”

Here at Pied à Terre we are opening for eight shifts a week – this is down from 11 pre-pandemic. I don’t see any possibility in the near or distant future when I could recruit the staff to take the restaurant back up to its previous capacity of 11 shifts. In fact, I find myself considering reducing the number of shifts down to seven, due to the critically low levels of staffing. If I was to lose another member of staff, I would be stressing the team to open eight shifts and I can’t afford to lose any more team members, as there just aren’t any candidates out there.

I hear about the staffing crisis right across hospitality. Three-quarters of clubs, pubs and bars say they are short of security staff. Many operators are operating one or two fewer nights. UKHospitality is quoted as saying at least a third of its members have been forced to reduce trading hours due to the staff situation. I used to say the business is “struggling but thriving”; now it’s “struggling to survive”

If Boris is going to make us rely solely on UK workers the government needs to re-focus on hospitality as a career, something that can be promoted in schools and colleges around the country. This is desperately needed. I often say that not everyone is suited to university – I certainly wasn’t. I think it is absolutely shameful that if you take out a student loan you can be looking at interest rates of up to 12% on money borrowed. This should encourage young people to come into our industry and look for careers instead of degrees.

On a lighter note, I have been cushion designing this last week, thinking of the comfort of our diners. I was reminded of buying a batch of colourful cushions for the restaurant many years ago. At the time we had an Australian head chef and it appeared that cushions were not his thing. I arrived in the next day to find all the cushions piled up by the bin. For me it was a case of picking one’s battles, and I wasn’t going to get upset over the chef’s lack of taste in upholstery.

The aesthetic of the restaurant or any hospitality venue is crucial in defining what it is and what it does. Aesthetics cannot be championed by committee, and of course at the end of the day your diners decide if the look and feel of your venue is up to scratch and that is ultimately success or failure. Cushions have been ordered and I love them.

Final thought for the day: An energy windfall tax has been announced. Why not make the energy companies charge less for the energy or peg an appropriate price so as not to attract a windfall tax? Because there is VAT on the energy and Rishi is busy rubbing his beautifully manicured hands at every price rise.